The East subdistrict is the most wide-open of the four groups. None of the seven teams made advanced past the second round of last season’s playoffs, and none are listed in the Top 5 of the preseason rankings.
Only two schools – Cretin-Derham Hall (Jackson Crawford) and Roseville (Luke Bouchart) return their quarterback, which should put them ahead of the others early this fall.
Cretin is probably a slight favorite because it also returns one of the metro area’s best defensive backfield with Charlie Dennis, James Williams, Ryan Larson and Weston Thompson. Roseville returns eight total starters and has individual standouts in linebacker Mikel Martin and two-way starter Victor Yang.
East Ridge and its six returning defensive starters could also factor into the subdistrict title discussion. Finding new skill players, though, will be a priority for the Raptors to contend this fall.
